Inmigration rally
by José A. Healy
Hispanic Link News Service
WASHINGTON, D.C. – En lo que el gobierno estadounidense elabora sus “mejoras” con los criterios para la deportación, dirigentes comunitarios y algunos estados critican las políticas por ser injustas y perjudiciales a las comunidades de inmigrantes.
El programa federal de aplicación de las leyes de migración, llamado “Comunidades Seguras”, ejercerá más cautela para evitar la deportación de individuos indocumentados que sean víctimas o testigos de delitos, prometió John Morton, director de la entidad gubernamental Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), en una conferencia de prensa en esta ciudad el 17 de junio.
También anunció Morton que ICE creará un comité asesor que recomendará la manera de mejor enfocar la deportación de individuos que presentan verdaderos riesgos a la seguridad. Dijo que está sopesando si continuar el proceso de deportación contra individuos que hayan sido acusados sólo de infracciones menores de tráfico, sin ser condenados.
Los cambios al programa de Comunidades Seguras no incluyen un cese inmediato de las deportaciones de aquellos hallados culpables de infracciones de tráfico tales como el conducir sin licencia, u otros delitos menores.
“El programa no se limita sólo a los que cometen ofensas serias. Queda claro que también identificaremos y deportaremos a otros que cometan ofensas también”, dijo Morton. El programa de Comunidades Seguras se estableció en el 2008, como un programa para compartir información mediante el cual jurisdicciones locales transmiten a la FBI las huellas digitales de los detenidos.
Las huellas digitales de los inmigrantes indocumentados con el tiempo llegan al ICE, donde los funcionarios deciden a quién envicted only of misdemeanors or no crimes at all. Concerns are also being raised that the program keeps victims of domestic violence from reporting abuses to the police. Several cases have surfaced of individuals who contacted the police and were subsequently fi ngerprinted and deported.
“We need to do a better job of ensuring that the program is more focused on targeting those who pose the biggest risk to communities,” Morton said. ICE offi cers are receiving clear directives not to place victims or witnesses of abuse in deportation proceedings, he emphasized, citing new policy that directs state and local authorities to refrain from detaining for more than 48 hours individuals charged only with immigration violations.
From October 2008 through last March, ICE deported 101,741 undocumented immigrants through Secure Communities. Of that total, 71 percent were convicted of a crime, 26 percent of them for aggravated felonies. Still, 29 percent of those deported were not convicted of any crime.
Despite the changes to the program, community leaders continue to oppose it. “I don’t think there were any great improvements,” said retired Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas, Jr., a frequent spokesperson for law enforcement agencies. “[The program] was never intended to look at people who don’t have driver’s licenses or at civil offenders.”
According to Morton, the program is based on fi ngerprint information-sharing between the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and was never limited to criminal immigrants. States cannot refuse to participate, he maintained. The FBI will continue to transmit fi ngerprint information to the DHS, according to the FBI. Venegas countered that local and state jurisdictions can pass legislation blocking their enforcement agencies from fingerprinting individuals for minor offenses.
Prior to Morton’s announcement, the governors of New York, Illinois and Massachusetts declared that their states would cease to participate in the program, although fingerprints that reach the FBI from those states are still being to be transmitted to ICE.
possible due to the natureThe California Assembly has already passed the TRUST Act, which would suspend California’s participation. Morton said the action is not of Secure Communities.
Even if a bill does not pass, local law enforcement and counties could on their own initiative withhold fingerprint information from the FBI about detainees they determine aren’t serious threats, according to Quintin Mecke, spokesmanfor Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-S.F.), sponsor of the TRUST Act. I C E m a i n t a i n e d that all jurisdictions in the country will be required to activate Secure Communities by 2013.
(José Healy is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Email him at josehealy@gmail.com.)
